Food stamps can be used on Easter candy

I’m not surprised to learn that food stamps can be used on candy. I pretty much had that detail figured out by looking at the codes on my cash register receipts.

I am surprised, however, to see signs marked so specifically in the stores. A shelf tag I saw at a drugstore this week at the Easter candy display explains that EBT – the Electronic Benefit Transfer card known as Michigan Bridge Card – can be used on “seasonal candy.”

Candy is not specifically mentioned on those lists as allowable, but it is also not one of the prohibited items. And as I’ve noticed, if you look at your cash register receipts that code food vs. non-food products, candy gets a food code.

Now, I’ve seen a lot of nasty comments on the Internet forums about food stamp customers using their benefits towards candy and junk food. If you’re going to debate what’s a proper expense and what’s not for such an account, remember that many other legitimate “grocery” items such as soap, toilet paper and diapers aren’t allowable expenses on food stamps. It’s just how the rules currently are written.

Besides, on the Easter candy detail, how many programs and sponsors do you see adopting out Easter baskets with jelly beans and chocolate bunnies for needy kids? It does happen, but not nearly to the extent as happens at Christmas time or even with back-to-school bookbag campaigns.

So I really don’t have a problem with Easter candy being an allowable purchase, although, yes, I was surprised to see the signs in the store.

On the other hand, a lot of Michigan residents who are now on public assistance are new to these programs. They’re not the chronic poor. They are the formerly working families who never had a reason to use these services. I’m sure the retail clerks get a lot of questions these days.

This post has 3 comments

A. Mine. When I was pregnant and on WIC, there was an intense amount of shame involved in going to the register with those checks. I wonder if the “newly poor” will experience that and abstain from the junk food.

B. A friend just moved herself and her 4 kids to AZ and was approved for food stamps. They handed her $650 to feed her family for a month. Being new to this program, and spending years stretching her budget, she’s probably going to buy things like junk just to get the most for her money.

I have never used either food stamps or WIC. But my family has received other need-based assistance, so I do encourage people to use whatever resources or programs they honestly qualify for.

These days, food stamps have been converted to plastic card that looks and works like a debit card. In addition to helping the clients be able to conduct their business like everyone else; the electronic method is intended to help prevent fraud.

Now, if you are standing right behind the customer, you probably can tell he or she is using the Michigan Bridge Card. I saw the customer ahead of me using a Bridge Card Friday at Wal-Mart. She was apparently new to the details because the clerk had to walk her through some of the steps. So does the card vs. paper coupons help prevent nasty looks and comments from other shoppers? I don’t know.

The other point about those who know how to stretch their funds well below the food stamp allotment is certainly a good one. The “$30 a week grocery budget” books by Donna McKenna that I referred to a couple of days ago told such a story. Donna said she stuffed into her freezer a lot of meat that she normally couldn’t afford to buy during the time her family received food stamps!

I had to use food stamps back when they were paper. It was much more noticable to the sometimes nasty customers behind you in line. Now with the card it is more difficult to tell. In Florida the card looks almost like the Discover card that has a flag on it. I try to see what kind of card my customers have as they swipe it so I can hit the appropriate buttons and I never have to ask how they are paying.

I have a few more people each week that approach me and say they were just approved for EBT and want to make sure what they are allowed to buy before they hit the register. The number of people using EBT just keeps increasing.